Technical Field
The disclosure herein relates to a cooling device for cooling electronic devices in an aircraft, and in particular to a cooling device that does not require an ambient air introduction system prepared particularly for cooling electronic devices.
Description of the Related Art
In airplanes so far, any power transmissions have employed mechanical links in general. When ailerons are to be moved for example, a pilot first moves a control column, a mechanical link next transmits its motion to a hydraulic system, and the hydraulic system then drives the ailerons. From an engine, a gear system extracts part of its driving force and transmits it to a fuel pump, thereby driving the fuel pump.
The latest technology enables these mechanical links to be successively replaced with electronic means, thereby reducing weights of airplanes. Weight reduction, of course, contributes improvement in energy efficiency to a great degree.
Further, electronic control is applied to so many devices and this also leads to improvement of performance of airplanes. Further many electric components such as a heater for de-icing are used.
These circumstances increase electric power demand in airplanes. To meet such power demand, power supply systems using power semiconductors such as insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are used. These power supply systems convert alternate current power that is output by generators combined with engines into direct current power, supply it to respective devices, store surplus power in storage batteries, and convert part of the direct current power into stepped-up or stepped-down alternate current power and supply it to respective devices. As these systems can use AC-DC conversion by means of semiconductors with improved energy efficiency such as IGBTs, excellent power efficiency and controllability are now realized.
On the other hand, device cooling in airplanes is a growing technical problem. Japanese Patent Applications Laid-open No. S64-61999 and No. 2008-312439 disclose arts related to cooling systems for devices in airplanes.